Our First Medical Scare
After a complication-free delivery, everything seemed to be perfect about our little boy. He had a full head of hair, slept 3-5 hours at a time, and ate in less than 20 minutes. We were in heaven! All of the tests in the hospital showed that Orion was perfectly healthy. Then we got home.
3 days after his birth, I was taking a bath and got a call from the hospital where Orion was born. I saw the number on my watch and couldn’t find my phone to answer, so I let it go to voicemail. The voicemail was dictated and read: “This is Dr. Walker, we got an abnormal report of a lab that was sent to the state. I need you to call me back as soon as possible.” I sank into the warm water stewing over what the issue could be. Since I couldn’t hear his tone of voice, I was solely relying on the words “as soon as possible.” I had just started the bath, so I contemplated just relaxing for a few more minutes, but I couldn’t. My mind was whirling. I quickly showered, and Ben heard the water turn on. He came into the bathroom and asked if I was ok. With a few tears in my eyes and some sniffles, I told him about the call. I expressed that I didn’t think I could make the call without him, so I asked if he would do it for us.
Dr. Walker was not any more helpful on the call as he was on the voicemail. He vaguely stated that Orion’s lab results for his thyroid were abnormal and we needed to go get blood drawn immediately to confirm the issue. We asked what the numbers were, but he couldn’t give us any information. He said he would email the results to our pediatrician to follow up. We immediately called our pediatrician to hear her perspective. All she could tell us was that his thyroid level was at a 43. I asked what the healthy range was, and she said she didn’t know. Now I was frustrated with the hospital, nervous for our baby, and doubting our new pediatrician’s competency. We then did what every new parent shouldn’t - we started Googling. The only information we could find about healthy levels was a report stating 1.6 - 1.9 was a healthy level. My stomach sank as I started reading all of the symptoms. All of the wonderful attributes about Orion like his sleep and eating patterns were no longer seen as awesome because lethargy and low weight gain were on the list of symptoms.
We packed up Orion and headed to a different hospital that was capable of drawing blood from such a tiny human - that’s what the nurse called him. We stood at the door of the blood draw room as I choked back tears. I thought, “he’s only 3 days old and we are poking him with needles and showing him how painful this world can be.” I whimpered to Ben that I couldn’t hold him during the blood draw and needed him to do it. If you know me, I’m eternally optimistic, but something shifted in me and I could only think of how helpless I was to our son. This sweet 70-year-old lady with thick glasses opened the door to welcome us in. We were either blessed to have a nurse with decades of experience or terrified to have an elderly nurse who was no longer capable of seeing our baby’s veins. Ben jokingly, but not so jokingly, asked, “Is this your first day?” She laughed and stated that she had been drawing blood for 25+ years and little people were her favorite. All I could muster out was, “We’ve only been doing this 3 days, so we might need some help.”
She was AMAZING. Orion barely cried, and within 2 minutes, he was bandaged up and ready to leave. The test results came back early the next morning. Our pediatrician called and told us the GREAT news! His levels were at 43 when the birth hospital took the initial blood. After 4 days, his levels were down to 12, and she told us that he just needed to be under 9 by 6 weeks old. She expressed that with that huge decrease, she wasn’t worried at all about his thyroid health. She believed it would continue to drop over the next week and would show healthy results soon.
After all of this, we did some digging. It turns out that just last year, many hospitals removed the requirement to wait 48 hours to take blood for this test. Since we had left the hospital earlier than most, they did the heel prick early which skewed the results. Also, a heel prick crushes the cells that are analyzed for this test and often shows much higher numbers than a regular blood draw.
We went back for his 2-week appointment, and Orion has a thyroid level of 5. We are so thankful for his health, but this experience was really enlightening for me. I realized that this little guy has changed my desires and that I have to hold him with open hands. God is in control of every situation, and I will praise Him for each step in the journey of motherhood.